Sometimes you have to use the term “classic” the way it is applied, in property tax and collectible terms, to automobiles. Anything over 25 years old is a “classic.” Yes, that means most models of the Ford Taurus can be considered as such.

The 1958 WWII spy thriller “The Two-Headed Spy” promises a deep undercover tale of a Brit high up in the Nazi government, a starring role and rare romantic lead for Jack Hawkins, a chewy supporting turn by Gia Scala, and very early film appearances by Donald Pleasance and the Oscar winning legend Michael Caine.

Blacklisted Dalton Trumbo fiddled with the script, uncredited. And it was directed by Hungarian-born actor turned writer-director André De Toth, a filmmaker who tackled many genres, and is best known for “House of Wax,” “Springfield Rifle,” the bio-pic “Monkey on My Back” and a much later Michael Caine WWII actioner, “Play Dirty.” His was an uneven career of some acclaim, some misfires and a lot of 1950s and ’60s TV.

“The Two-Headed Spy” is a bit of balderdash about a deep-undercover Brit who becomes “a model National Socialist” amongst the Nazis and a general running supply-and-logistics for Adolf Hitler while passing on secrets to the Allies to foil German plans for conquest. Saying that it is based on “real exploits” of Col. A.P. Scotland, implying that this is a “true” story in any regard is a flat-out lie.

War time “secrets act” and all that made a lot of room for mischief in this clumsy, truncated “history of WWII inside the German General Staff” espionage thriller.

Hawkins plays the uber-loyal Alex Schottland, an officer in charge of logistics who, when the high-voiced tantrum tosser Adolf wants supplies for “75 divisions” to invade Poland, tells his Fuhrer “We will make it happen.” Not telling the Austrian corporal “No,” not daring to speak anything “defeatist” and reminding his fellow officers of “the faith we all have in the Fuhrer” is what gets Schottland, whose British birth puts him under Gestapo suspicion early on, promoted to general.

Schottland’s so passionate about pleasing his leader than he has no time for women, like the Italian songbird Lili (Gia Scala) thrown at him. But his new aide (Erik Schumann) notices he does make time for his clock collection, and regular visits to the clockmaker/repairer Cornaz (Felix Aylmer). Cornaz is Schottland’s contact, his intermediary with British intelligence.

Want to know German invasion plans, the locations of this industry or that supply depot? The Brits have a man who could not be more “Inside the Third Reich.”

The script comically leapfrogs through the early years of the war, and via montage we’re jumped forward into the pivotal year of 1944, when members of the General Staff have lost faith in the Fuhrer, D-Day signals the beginning of the End and paranoia and recriminations spread through the elite officer corps.

Walter Hupp plays the always-looked-the-other-way intelligence chief Admiral Canaris. Alexander Knox is the Gestapo head who figures Schottland is a mole and Michael Caine has a single scene as a intelligence officer (Gestapo in all but uniform) who comes to question Lili, whose loyalties are also worth questioning.

The picture’s third act, with desperate attempts to escape or at least warn the Allies about the coming “Battle of the Bulge” as the net closes in around Schottland, is far better than the first two.

Hawkins, a stage actor whose first wife was the future “Miss Daisy,” Jessica Tandy, rarely played romantic leads. His and Schottland’s discomfort with the vivacious Italian is almost eyebrow-raising. Quite aside from security concerns, a question at a celebration honoring his promotion hangs over the performance and intentionally so.

“Does he dislike all women?”

It turns out, our “perfect Nazi” is not the only insider spy. A lady who makes the bold request, “Start the attack on France soon, so I can see Paris while I am still young!” is beyond suspicion as well.

Quite aside from its outlandish premise presented as something based in fact, “The Two-Headed Spy” is never more than a wildly uneven affair — the occasional cleverly-framed shot, a few nice acting flourishes by Hawkins and Donald Pleasance, as a paranoid fellow officer, and professionalism in front of and behind the camera that the script never merited.

Sometimes we use “classic” just as a way of reminding ourselves that something’s old and old fashioned.

Rating: Approved, violence, smoking

Cast: Jack Hawkins, Gia Scala, Erik Schumann, Donald Pleasance, Alexander Knox, Felix Aylmer, Laurence Naismith, Walter Hudd and Michael Caine.

Credits: Directed by André De Toth, scripted by Michael Wilson and Alfred Lewis Levitt.. A Columbia release on Tubi, Youtube, Amazon et al.

Running time: 1:33